+- Forums (http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomForum)
+-- Forum: Doom Arts (http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomForum/forumdisplay.php?fid=6)
+--- Forum: Doom Books (http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomForum/forumdisplay.php?fid=13)
+--- Thread: Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music by Greg Milner (/showthread.php?tid=6332)
Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music by Greg Milner - King Bob - 05-29-2021
This is not exactly a history of recorded music, but rather a history of recording technology, and only hitting certain points, but in great detail. He starts with a (too long) chapter on Edison and acoustic recording. Very little said about the development of electrical recording, quickly jumping to the development of magnetic tape (Ampex was pivotal in this). From there a lot of it centers around the recording studio. Some discussion of the rise of hi-fi enthusiasts in the 50s (sound effects records became popular to demonstrate how great one's system was) and the notion of "presence" in recordings. Then there's a discussion of the growing role of the studio in creating the recording (multi-tracking etc.), and the crazy story of Def Leppard's Pyromania, which was basically constructed by the producer from thousands of snippets. He moves on to remixing, starting with a too short but very good section on King Tubby and dub. Then the rise of digital recording, with a long digression into development of synthesizers and sampling (including E-Mu systems in Santa Cruz). Then he's on to the loudness wars of the 90s, when compression got out of control on a lot of recordings. (This part I found boring since I'd already read a fair amount on it.) He finishes with ProTools and home studios, and the consequent decline of recording studios, and the consequent tragic loss of a lot of knowledge about how to record live music. Very detailed, and lots of names that I couldn't remember.
DM connection: The first recording marketed as all-digital was the 1812 Overture on the Telarc label. DM had this album, and I remember he said something about how wide the grooves were for the cannon shots. He put it on when he had some people over at his (parent's) house in Sunnyvale, and the people downstairs came running up after the cannon fired to see what was happening.
Doom recommended? Depends on your interest in the subject. Probably most interesting to TG.
RE: Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music by Greg Milner - Drunk Monk - 05-29-2021
(05-29-2021, 09:17 AM)King Bob Wrote: DM connection: The first recording marketed as all-digital was the 1812 Overture on the Telarc label. DM had this album, and I remember he said something about how wide the grooves were for the cannon shots. He put it on when he had some people over at his (parent's) house in Sunnyvale, and the people downstairs came running up after the cannon fired to see what was happening.
Funny memory.
Coincidentally, I was just reminding Stacy of this disc. When we were driving home from Carmel last Sunday, the 1812 came on the radio. We laughed because Stacy had tuned it to our local classical station for something calming. The version they played was weak. When the cannon barrage came, it was hardly noticeable.
I must dig that disc out again and see how it sounds now. It's been forever since I gave it a spin. I loved that disc. Those cannon shots were like punches in the gut, and you know what a base worshipper I am...
Sadly, I don't have my subwoofer anymore so it won't have the impact. It's in storage at my mom's (back in svale) and the speaker was deteriorating. Some day I'll have a house again that's big enough to support a subwoofer.